Two Wings of the Same Bird

Guest Opinion by Whitney Scapecchi | Southern Freedom Press

Grounding in the Mission

The other night I caught myself doomscrolling, jumping from one headline to the next, feeling like I was drowning in noise. My boys had been bickering earlier in the evening, and I found myself thinking in my head, “A house divided can’t stand.” The words hit me differently as I stared at the chaos unfolding on my phone.

Jonathan and I caught up the next day — just one of those short calls where we check in. Of course, the political environment right now is so saturated with hate and division that our conversations lately find themselves there. My mind runs at 100 mph. I fall down rabbit holes. I crave knowledge and understanding. And as overwhelming as that can be, I’ve learned to appreciate these calls with Jonathan and others who are awake. They help me to center and ground myself.

My mission can feel scattered at times, but I trust that I am divinely guided to write when the message is meant to be heard. Still, I can’t ignore that the media is part of the problem. It overstimulates our brains, feeds us more than we can hold, until we throw up our hands and say, “It’s too much, I’ll just accept what I’m given.” But that’s not how my mind works. I take it in. I break it apart. I compartmentalize until it makes sense.

Jonathan and I agreed that it’s easy to fall into the trap. But our mission demands more of us. We can’t fix the world or the country overnight. What we can do is stay focused on what’s right in front of us — our backyards, our state. 

Alabama is one of the most corrupt places in this nation, and it will take people like us — like you — choosing to wake up and enlighten our neighbors. The more we do that here, the more others across the state will rise and do the same.

So while I was trying to refocus my writing back toward the state, something heavy pressed on me this morning that I can’t ignore. As I scroll through articles, read the latest news out of Alabama, and watch the flood of posts both local and national, I keep being pulled back to one truth:

A Kingdom Divided

“Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house divided against itself shall not stand.” — Matthew 12:25

Division doesn’t just exist — it’s manufactured. And it survives because we keep feeding it. Whether in politics, race, or even faith, there are groups and systems that thrive on the fire of division, while ordinary people — you and me — are the ones who get burned.

Two Wings of the Same Bird

But what if we stopped feeding that fire? What if we saw each other differently? The truth is, left and right are two wings of the same bird. Black and white, believer and unbeliever — none of us can fly without the other. And a broken bird cannot soar.

I’ve seen this division up close. Recently, I’ve watched two people I deeply respect — both fighting for freedom in their own ways — end up in a legal battle with one another. The divide didn’t come from their core values, which are more alike than different. It came from the ripple effects of political corruption and a system that thrives when we turn on each other instead of standing together.

Being in the middle of that has been heartbreaking. I respect both women and the core of their beliefs, even as the public scrutiny around them grows depending on which political angle people choose to take. But I’m able to hold space for both because I recognize the bigger things at play. That’s exactly what I mean when I say division doesn’t just exist — it’s manufactured.

My own values still align with faith, family, personal responsibility. I haven’t abandoned those things — what I’ve abandoned is blind loyalty to a system that doesn’t serve people. The “party” itself, at the deep state level, serves only power. And as long as we keep arguing about which wing is stronger, the system wins while the people lose.

Look at Israel. For generations we’ve been told that protecting it is holy, untouchable. But is it really holiness we’re protecting — or is it politics and corruption, wrapped in religious language?

The God I know would never condone the slaughter of innocents for the sake of power and control. And yet, that’s the reality we’re watching unfold.

The Veil Is Being Pulled Back

To me, it’s all connected. Division. Politics. Religion. Foreign policy. The veil is being pulled back — and the truth is not always comfortable to face. But it’s necessary if we want a different future.

We rise or fall together. And as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. warned us, “We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.” His words weren’t just for his time — they’re a warning for ours.

But they’re also a reminder of what’s still possible. The fire of division may burn bright right now, but truth and light spread faster than flames. We may not fix the world overnight, but we can keep speaking truth, keep lighting candles in the dark, and keep building unity in the places where we live. That choice is still ours to make.

History will remember which side of that choice we stood on.

The above was originally published by Southern Freedom Press, and is reprinted here with the permission of the author.

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